Physical Technologies – Part 2

In November 2017, we issued a report on the challenges that companies in the physical technologies face in obtaining government support for commercialization. This was followed by a forum held in February 2018 with over 100 entrepreneurs, academics, government officials, advisors, investors and other interested parties. They had a robust discussion around the challenges outlined in that report and identified a number of other hurdles, including:

Weak institutional support structure

Knowledge and information gaps

Lack of critical mass

Lack of prototyping facilities

Absence of short-run manufacturing

A missing global perspective

Regulatory challenges

Difficulties sourcing talent

Lack of government support

Problems with access to capital

Participants offered a range of creative solutions to these and other challenges. What emerged from these discussions is summarized in the remainder of the report. One potential path to overcome some of the barriers holding back entrepreneurs and innovators is the creation of small local clusters focused on individual physical technologies.